New vehicle helps staff patrol Tarrywile Park

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published
7:00 pm EST, Sunday, November 25, 2007

But in the woods, it's different. Tarrywile has 722 acres -- it's the state's largest urban park. Even with its trails clearly marked, people get lost. When a storm blows trees down across the trails, it takes time for a crew to hike to the site and clear it away.

Now, getting to the far reaches of the park will be easier, thanks to a new vehicle -- a six-wheel-drive Polaris Ranger. The vehicle has six thick tires and a small cab and body that ride high off the ground. It's meant to go up steep hills, over rocks and across rough terrain.

The U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. gave away 70 Polaris Rangers in 2007 to first responders -- usually fire, police and emergency medical departments. Tarrywile was one of about 3,000 applicants to apply for one. It's the first park, and only the sixth organization in Connecticut, to get a Ranger.

James Lee, spokesman for U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., said Tuesday the company decided to begin the Polaris program after Sept. 11, 2001. Since 2002, Lee said, the company has given away 355 of the vehicles.

"It was really a response to that day," he said. "We wanted a charitable program to give first responders a vehicle to take them to hard-to-get places."

Lee said each Polaris Ranger costs between $9,000 and $10,000, depending on some additional features -- Tarrywile, for example, added some of its own money to buy a roof and windshield.

Sandy Moy, the park's executive director, said last week that Tarrywile learned of the program from Susan Lauderman, a member of the Tarrywile Park Authority who is employed by U.S. Smokeless Tobacco.

Moy said Tarrywile's staff will be able to use the vehicle to find people who get lost or to deliver emergency first aid.

"We will not be able to administer first aid ourselves," she said. "But having this vehicle will facilitate getting someone else there who can help. The Fire Department doesn't know our trails. We know them very well."

Moy also said the vehicle will be a great help to the park staff when it comes to trail maintenance.

"It will take us to places we can only go on foot right now," she said. "If a tree falls down on one of our trails, we have to haul everything in. So this vehicle will be of major use to us."

"We're taking it up to Mootry Peak," Moy said of the park's highest point. "There's a tree there that is just about to come down. This will help us take care of it."